Discover Books is a for-profit company — not a charity, as some may have assumed — and has even boasted of being “thе lаrgеѕt seller οf used books οn thе Internet,” with 2010 revenue of $27 million, according to the Seattle Times. The Tacoma, Wash. based business was founded in 2004 under the name ‘Thrift Recycling Management’ (TRM). The new name came from a used book seller in British Columbia, Canada, which TRM acquired in mid-2008.

I’m sure the children will love getting their free book. And over the years Discover Books has donated millions of the children’s titles it has collected in its bins and from other sources. But truth be told, kids’ books typically have very low resale value — often sold for pennies on Amazon — and so they’re far more useful in PR value when given away. Meanwhile, Discover Books has, from those same bins, collected and sold millions of the cherry-picked goodies ― best sellers in good condition, etc. That has meant tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue for the company, and I assure you: all that isn’t going to charity.

But here’s the thing: starting around 2009, media reports sharply criticized TRM for selling about half of the usable books collected in its blue bins ― prominently labeled “Books for Charity” ― while not making it clear that these “donations” were helping to fund the company. Such misleading language on earlier versions of TRM’s bins led many to believe that *all* of the books would be donated to schools and libraries, which would suggest that the company was a nonprofit.

News stories on TRM and its alleged “charity front” ― Reading Tree ― had also expressed concern over the unusually close relationship between the two entities, as well as the negative impact TRM’s collection activities has had on local book charities such as the Friends of the Library associations across the country.

A slew of complaints from library groups and an investigation by Oregon’s Department of Justice may have prompted the company to start obscuring the “… for Charity” text on its bins beginning around 2011. The negative attention appears to have also led to Reading Tree ceasing operations in mid-2012.

Discover Books’ bins now carry more honest labeling that admits to selling a substantial portion of the books collected. But this occurred only after a storm of media criticism and the Oregon DoJ investigation. Had none of that transpired, I wonder whether this company would still be foisting what in my view was a massive charity fraud.

Discover Books is not a company worth supporting, in my opinion. Please research before donating.

Google search these reports on Discover Books (as TRM) and the now defunct Reading Tree:

Do book donations dropped in those big blue bins really go to charity? Press Democrat

Battle Over The Blue Book Bin | wusa9com

Book donation boxes being called deceptive by opponents – KNAU

Not all “Books for Charity” go to charity – Marketplace

]]>Comment on Op Ed | David Krietor on the MovePHX Transportation Initiative by Dan Themanfanhttp://downtownphoenixjournal.com/2015/07/15/op-ed-david-krietor-on-the-movephx-transportation-initiative/#comment-13692
Wed, 15 Jul 2015 18:23:00 +0000http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/?p=46664#comment-13692Has anyone bothered to look up MovePHX and find out what it is all about? Or is everyone just taking this at face value? I encourage anyone reading this to go to MovePHX website and for fun look at their “List of Supporters” and as example :”Local Initiative Support Corp (LISC)” – a compendium of sorts, LISC’s Build Healthy[sic] Places Network which will lead you to THIS:
What Counts: Harnessing Data for America’s Communities,” Harnessing Data *for* America’s Communities? What for? “For”, or “On”? if you can muddle through their double-speak United Nations approved jargonese, be my guest.
]]>Comment on 20 Years After Srebrenica, Phoenix to Hold First Ever ‘Walk to Remember’ by Edward Jensenhttp://downtownphoenixjournal.com/2015/07/10/20-years-after-srebrenica-phoenix-to-hold-first-ever-walk-to-remember/#comment-13690
Sat, 11 Jul 2015 19:12:00 +0000http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/?p=46636#comment-13690It’s interesting to have this event of reflection, meditation, inclusion, and remembrance on the same day as an event whose speakers have said that we must be afraid of strangers within our midst.
]]>Comment on Wire | New Public Art To Be Dedicated on Roosevelt Row July 8th by Edward Jensenhttp://downtownphoenixjournal.com/2015/07/07/wire-new-public-art-dedication-on-roosevelt-row-july-8th/#comment-13687
Wed, 08 Jul 2015 15:29:00 +0000http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/?p=46564#comment-13687I’m super excited that the City of Phoenix now has a Meejin Yoon work in its collection. Cities attract talent and hats are off to the work of the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture for sharing that enthusiasm with the world. The locally based manufacturing teams should be congratulated for their outstanding work, too!
]]>Comment on The City Selects a Proposal for Central Station Site by Varzhttp://downtownphoenixjournal.com/2014/05/08/city-selects-proposal-central-station-site/#comment-13685
Wed, 24 Jun 2015 16:00:00 +0000http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/?p=40324#comment-13685Its surprising to see that phoenix is adding a new building to the block. How this translates to the business men of phoenix is beautiful skyline views no one outside or the public in general cant enjoy. To the urban resident, it translates to an enormous sun blocker and an obstacle to walk around that looks pretty.

I say these projects should add more versatility to the public, not just be some Dead zone for the pedestrian outside. Put some restaurants on the second floor, some shops on the first, or maybe a bit of recreation somewhere inside to make people actually believe the city is alive and not just concrete. Downtown Phoenix isnt too known for its lively environment and it needs to. Its a downtown! Tempe does a better job at that.

]]>Comment on ASU is Making a New Home at the Westward Ho by HShttp://downtownphoenixjournal.com/2015/05/13/asu-making-a-new-home-at-the-westward-ho/#comment-13684
Tue, 23 Jun 2015 20:03:00 +0000http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/?p=46036#comment-13684One of the reasons residents are so “isolated” is that the management has kept this historic space off-limits to the general public … people even trying to go in and look around at the historic lobby are told by security guards to leave. One of the highlights of this partnership with ASU is that it will re-open the Concho Room to public gatherings, even if just conferences and continued ed trainings, making it more of a “community” space, embracing its importance to local history. Too bad the out-of-state owners have squandered such a local asset for so long.
]]>Comment on Placemaking is Hard by David Bickfordhttp://downtownphoenixjournal.com/2015/05/29/placemaking-is-hard/#comment-13678
Fri, 29 May 2015 20:55:00 +0000http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/?p=46163#comment-13678Maybe another reason that some developers don’t want to engage with the community is that there has been so much anti-development rhetoric lately. Why would anyone want to sit down with people who demonize them with words like “cancerous” and “selfish”? Why would anyone have confidence that an intelligent discussion can occur when people complain about “condos” (even though most proposals are for apartments) and “high rises” (even though almost no projects proposed are tall enough to meet any widely-accepted definition of that phrase). Why would anyone believe that community engagement is productive when opponents of projects have circulated a dystopian image of Roosevelt Row dominated by chain stores while at the same time contradicting that scenario with complaints that projects have no ground floor retail at all? I could go on, but my point is that while I agree there hasn’t been much community engagement, I think it’s simplistic to put all the blame on developers.
]]>Comment on Placemaking is Hard by marcarchhttp://downtownphoenixjournal.com/2015/05/29/placemaking-is-hard/#comment-13677
Fri, 29 May 2015 19:47:00 +0000http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/?p=46163#comment-13677I was one of the designers of Hance Park in 1989-90. Fresh out of ASU arch grad school. (altho in 1983 I was a 30 yr old returning student, with a previous degree in fine art. oh, and if I really wanted to waste time and money, with one more year of college, I’d have a degree in art history too- woo hoo!) So since I was very far from the top of the team, I did get to put my 2 cents in, especially at the area below and east of the Central Ave bridge. We just called it the ‘hardscape area’. When you work in an architectural office attached to a large engineering firm, HNTB – the company that designed the I-10 ‘cut thru’, the in-house names of things tend to be prosaic. And also being a ‘rookie’ I was not allowed to lead any public presentations, so I was not included in memos other than to run some prints and put some color on them. I was aware that Parks Dept did have approval of the designs, and then final by City Council. Other than that, I don’t know what kind of ‘public’ or ‘neighborhood’ involvement happened. The neighborhood involvement, expressly sought goes back to Jane Jacobs in the 50’s so it’s not exactly a new deal.
I was asked last year by a downtown rag to write an article about the proposed design. So I spent quite a bit of time walking the park again. I did produce a ‘draft’, that was 11 pages – waaay too long, and was instructed to cut it down to 1 page. That would have been pretty difficult, basically a ‘yep’ or ‘nope’ kind of opinion, so I let it slide. I really do try to be fair, and I really am not defensive about the designs I produced. I worked hard, including very long hours -‘allnighters’ and weekends and i’m not stoopid. I’d spent the summer before in Rome; a travel scholarship studying exactly this kind of thing. I think we had a pretty cool concept, even a sly joke and funny thing, no one has picked it up,,,,But in the end, it gets built, the budget gets hacked and things built are not exactly as designed. For example, the ‘shade structures’ at the hardscape area – more prosaic language – were hacked – at $250k that’s a pretty modest amount these days. No one asked me to re-design them to take out some cost, they were just not built. So a few years ago when the adjoining neighborhoods started looking at spiffing up the place, I heard about it and frankly to generate some kind of work during the recession, i attended a couple meetings. It would have been a fairly simple process to re-use some of the existing structure already in the ground, and place some sturdy and useful shade canopies at the hardscape area. I even have a set of the original drawings, saved from the trash. My input was not much appreciated at the ‘clubby’ neighborhood meetings, so I skipped it. I’m a Phx native, but live in Tempe and even tho my Mom used to buy flowers weekly at Millie’s, guess i just don’t understand the place?
Then this whole deck park redesign thing got funded, somehow, with a pretty hefty fee I’m sure (hauling people in from NYC ain’t cheap!) and a new design team was in action. I attended the circus-like presentation at the park last summer. (paid for by the city?) Gotta admit, loved the mariachi band and the beer tent! It was also where the proposed budget to ‘re-invent’ the park was put out there. Something like $125m at $5m per ac. Ok, that’s about 5 times the original budget, in today’s bucks, apples to apples. Here’s my brief take on the park as it is now, ‘yep or nope’. Parts of the park are near perfect; some parts were not maintained well at all and need a bunch of help, and other parts just did not have anything happening there in the first place. So to put it simply, to scrape the entire 32 acres is almost an act of vandalism or maybe just designers exuberance or maybe……It just isn’t necessary. What’s the city saying on it’s trash trucks, ‘Reduce and Recycle’? Or everyone seems to like to talk about ‘adaptive re-use’? or maybe even ‘historic renovation or preservation’? the same goes for parks and park structures, not just buildings. One of my professional obligations is – if I can save the client some bucks, and still get a good result, that’s what I do.
]]>Comment on Building a Vision for Downtown Phoenix Living by Guillermo Betancourthttp://downtownphoenixjournal.com/2015/04/14/building-a-vision-for-downtown-phoenix-living/#comment-13667
Fri, 17 Apr 2015 19:28:00 +0000http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/?p=45846#comment-13667This is AMAZING!! I love DTPHX and everything that is happening in my neighborhood. I have been renting since I moved here in 2009 and I will NEVER leave. I will definitely will eventually buy and raised my family here. (Once the grocery store arrives lol)
]]>Comment on Suns’ Rowley Takes the Leap by arthurvandolayhttp://downtownphoenixjournal.com/2014/12/13/suns-rowley-takes-leap/#comment-13663
Fri, 03 Apr 2015 22:16:00 +0000http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/?p=44046#comment-13663One can do an Internet search on Mr. Rowley’s fiancée, Kristin Dishner to see more inappropriate photos than one can shake a stick at. I wonder if Hugh Heffner is invited to the wedding?
]]>